IXC-Webmaster

Hello! It’s been a while! How are you? Are you staying inside like a smart, responsible person? I hope you’ve taken advantage of the nice weather we have had recently and gotten in some exercise between your Zoom meetings like our runners have been! This past weekend, April 25th and 26th, our athletes participated in ITFC’s first ever virtual race! Well, it wasn’t a race really. Our athletes took to the streets to see how far they could run or bike (without hurting themselves) for a good cause! Our club donated $1 per mile run by a distance runner and $5 per mile run by a non-distance runner (sprinter, thrower, jumper, etc.), up to $1,000 to the Eastern Illinois Foodbank, and we smashed that goal! Distance covered by bikers was half the amount per mile as stated above.

Our athletes ran/biked a combined total of over 730 MILES in those two days! As our outgoing President Bienduga put it eloquently, “That’s pretty crazy”. That is about the distance from Chicago to Philadelphia! However, the story does not end there. Our generous athletes were also given the option to donate some of their refunded seasonal fees on-top-off the $1,000, making the overall donation over $1,600 with more rolling in! With all the bad things that have been happening in the world, this is our team’s effort to try and help those less fortunate that are struggling during these difficult times. We hope all of our athletes, and readers, are staying safe and abiding by the CDC guidelines so that we all may be reunited in the fall.

There were some outstanding performances this past weekend! As expected, distance runners went to the extreme, running anywhere from half marathons to 18+ miles! We had a few surprises on the sprinters side as well! Let’s dive into the results from our virtual charity run, just to see how far we all ran and biked this weekend.

Usually we would go through each event throughout the course of the day, but since this was just one event, we’ll be going through the performances based on the time they entered their results. That being said, Evan Patel was our first entry, busting out a solid 13.14 miles! Being a pro distance runner and McChicken fanatic, this was most likely a walk in the park for him. Jeffrey Hesselbein was next at a respectable 12 mile effort! Once again a member of the mid-distance/distance crew, this should have been a typical long run for the future webmaster of IXC. Sprinter alumni Kaleigh Evans took to her bike and busted out a solid 20 mile ride! She also went against her doctor’s orders and busted out a 7 mile run! Outgoing social coordinator, sprinter, and thrower Shantanu Amin got to get a feel for what distance runners go through and ran a respectable 2 miles! See you in the 5k next year Shan? Future social coordinator and sprinter, PJ Coleman, ran an impressive 6.19 miles! Stated in his report, “Distance runners deserve a beer and psychological support”. Agreed PJ.

Distance alumni Lindsey Schmidt pulled through a solid 9.27 mile run! Nice job! Sprinter Alton Barbehenn went from sprinting a measly 60 meters to over 6 miles! 6.27 to be exact! What a performance! Another strong performance by a fellow sprinter was Katherine Vande Pol with an incredible 5 mile run! Another showing by an alumni, sprinter Malorie Moore got out on Saturday and ran a nice 2 mile run! Nicely done! What do you know, another alumni participating! Adriana Miltko was a distance runner on IXC and ITFC and cranked out a solid 6 mile run! She also stated she would like to donate additional money to the cause! Thank you Adriana!

Swedish phenom Malin Ekblad put on a solid performance of 6 miles completed! Well done! Former travel coordinator and sprinter alumni, Michael Jang ran an incredible 9.02 miles! That”s nuts for a former jumping and sprinting athlete! I hope your legs are feeling better. Another sprinter and jumper, Desarae Echevarria contributed a solid 7.52 miles! You sprinters have more endurance in you than I thought! This old cross country man was able to bust the arthritis out from his joints and finish on top with our farthest single effort! Ryan Somerfield ran a whopping 18 miles! Props to you big guy! Ryan also ran an additional 9 miles on Sunday! Making his combined total 27 miles! Outgoing webmaster and yours truly Matthew Beckerman contributed a solid 10.29 miles in the cold rain on Saturday afternoon.

Distance star Jacob Fleck put in some honest work and came out with a solid 5 mile run! Well done! Another member of the distance crew Lauren Bartels was another one of the runners to run a half marathon this weekend, at 13.1 miles. Nicely done! Former distance runner and 2019 GLR Mega Red teammate, Austin Keuhr ran a solid combined 6 miles to help donate to charity! Great job Austin! Natalie Maguire, another distance runner got out on her bike this weekend and logged a decent combined ride of 28 miles! Well done Natalie! Former sprinter and jumper, Ben Junkroski logged an impressive 6 miles! Accompanied by Ben was former distance runner Callie Rukavina, who obviously also ran 6 miles. Great job you two!

Incoming webmaster for the 2021 track season, sprinter Jalen Frazier came out of nowhere and decided to be the sprinter that runs 10 miles! Incredible! Along with the new board theme, the incoming president for next year, Ciara Ward with an impressive 4 mile run, claiming she was very fast while blocking out her time. I’d keep an eye on her next year, who knows what she can do with all that power. Cross country runner Zoe Jacquat had a solid performance of 6.26 miles! Happy to have your support for the charity! Justin Baysore put in a solid combined 15 mile effort this weekend, love to see it! Former cross country runner, Mega Bed founding father, and coolest man you will ever meet from Denmark was Jean Khavaquiah Rasmusen with a converted distance of 10.44 miles! He’s one of those weird metric people over there.

Natasha Ferrero, a sprinter on the club, cranked out a solid 5.25 mile effort! Nicely done! Distance alumni, Emily Foley got in on some of the action and contributed 5.5 miles to the fundraiser! Great job Emily! Freshman distance runner Mikeelie Jensen ran a solid 6.87 mile run, rounding it up to 7 for the benefit of the charity. I don’t think Rhode will make you run the additional .13 but who knows what goes on in his head. Senior distance runner Michael Gerkin ran a nice half-marathon! Another senior distance runner, Eli Walker also ran a solid half! Nicely done gentlemen!

Continuing with the mileage, Clare Oehler-O’Sullivan, a distance star ran a nice 9 miles this weekend. Well done! Unit Mackenzie Bach, famously known for his participation in the grueling Bicentennial last August came out and contributed 11.12 miles! Nicely done Mack! Old grandpa Beau Barber must’ve felt it on this one. His only remarks after his solid 5 mile effort was “ouchy”. Former travel coordinator, sprinter Andy Marszewski threw in a nice 3 mile run this weekend. Sprinters rarely run more than 1 mile during their workouts so all of them are really putting in some work! Tiffany Yathaputanon, a former distance runner for IXC and ITFC contributed a meaty 10.27 mile run!

MaryBeth Feeley a freshman distance runner, put in some solid work and ran a solid 5 miles this weekend! Love to see it MaryBeth! Another freshman distance runner putting in some good mileage for a great cause was Isaac Schifferer, pumping out 8 great miles! Did you ever hear the tragedy of Darth Plagueis The Wise? I thought not. If you would like to know a story the Jedi would not tell you, hit up distance runner Connor Farrell and he’d be glad to let you know while simultaneously running a half-marathon. Continuing on…sprinter Andre Ells Jr. had a solid showing of 2.01 miles this weekend! Not bad for a super fast sprinter! Lauren Gapinske had a great showing with an impressive 8 mile effort! Nicely done!

Local beans fanatic and urban legend Alex Hanskat cranked out a beefy 15 miler this weekend. Not bad for a washed-up distance runner! You’re lucky we’re donating your mileage even though you were irresponsible and broke CDC guidelines. Shame! Upcoming IXC president, former home-meet coordinator, spent 45-minutes lost in a forest during GLR, Bryan Himmel had a great run this weekend. Getting into the double digits with a solid 10 mile effort! Thank you Mr. President! Junior distance runner and heir to the Bruyere throne was Olan Bruyere with a 6 mile run. Nicely done Olan! 2019 NIRCA MVP and former sprints coach, Becky Haight ran an incredible combined 11 miles! We hope you’re doing well and good luck on your finals! Former treasurer and mile-specialist was Andrew Rhode with a decent 4.35 mile run on a “no worky” ankle. You get an A for effort Rhode <3.

Wheaton North alumni and current sprinter/hurdler, Josh James hopped on his bike this weekend and got in a solid 17.9 mile ride! Nicely done Josh! Distance runner and super star, Mia Bertaud clocked an impressive 9.9 miles this weekend! Yes, it’s ok you used your phone Mia! Senior distance runner, Brianna Legner had some watch difficulties but persevered for a combined 10 mile effort! Nicely done Brianna! Junior distance runner, Grace McDonough also busted out a solid 10-miler. Well done ladies! Former president, Alex Bienduga had an impressive day with 8.8 miles on the clock! Must’ve been hard getting those horse legs to move that far! Maybe next year you’ll be able to beat Jang and Jalen.

Former IXC treasurer, and Mr. Money Man, Alex Kogen put in a solid 10 miles this weekend! Love to see it Kogen! Also, I think Daniel wants to discuss more about a high risk, low yield investment with you. Eli Decker, sprinter for ITFC, wishes everyone to stay healthy and busted out a solid 4.09 mile run! Thanks Eli! Distance runner Mahum Chaudhary contributed a whopping 14.15 miles! Nicely done Mahum! Distance coach, Josh Mollway got out there and finished a monster 16 mile run! He also ran an additional 5 miles on Saturday so that”s a combined 21 miles! Great job Josh! Another distance runner, Grace Gudwien also got out after it and ran an incredible 15.05 miles! Nicely done Grace!

Another distance runner came to run for the cause, and that was Liam Bots with his solid run of 10.09 miles! Awesome job Bots! Haus dweller, Daniel Engel put in a solid 5 mile effort out there! Talk to him if you want an “in” on the stock market, especially in times like these! Distance junior, high-roller, as well as another haus dweller, Nikita Smyrnov got out there and ran a solid half marathon. Nicely done Nikita! Former ITFC throws coach and musically gifted Inga Augustaitis represented the throwing crew and ran 4.68 miles! That’s what I love to see! Thanks for the support Inga! Another distance star came out to support the cause, representing the bike gang was John Kellum with his casual ride of 4.7 miles! Nicely done Kellum!

Local comedian, future Stanford grad student, and IXC cult leader, Jarod Meyer cranked out a solid half marathon while injuring his hip! If you see this man, you may confuse him with Tom Hanks from the famous movie, Castaway. Quarantine affects us all in different ways. Former mid-distance coach and future head coach Patrick Wilhalm continued on the struggle bus but managed a solid 10.01 mile effort! Thanks coach! Former head coach and prom king Cody Lund ran an immaculate half marathon, wishing he could taste that sweet NIRCA paper at Nats this year. Me too buddy, me too. Another distance runner, Garrett Minich had a solid 4.2 mile out-n-back run! Nicely done!

Future travel coordinator and steeple-chase fanatic, Justin Ostrem ran a combined mileage of 23.21 miles! Rumor has it he’s been preparing for this weekend with his underground training crew back in Wheaton, IL. Fellow distance runner Henry Hornbrook got in a hefty 8 mile run this weekend! Nicely done Henry! Junior distance runner, Angela Wu busted out 16 miles this weekend! She also wants everyone to know how proud she is of all of you and that teammates are the best. Aww shucks, thanks Angela! Former sprinter, John Brandenburg went on a nice walk/run this weekend! 4.5 miles of running and 11 miles total! Love to see it John! Thanks for participating! IXC legend Leonel Rodriguez put in some solid effort this weekend, contributing 7 miles to the cause! Great job Leonel! Freshman distance runner, Cade Baker was another one of the members to run a half-marathon! His only concern was that it hurt. Sorry Cade! Hope you recover soon!

Another freshman distance runner was Brisa McGrath with a solid 11 mile effort! Well done Brisa! Former sprinter, Sonia Zhang participated and ran a solid 12 miles! That’s nuts for a sprinter! Excellent job Sonia! Distance runner, Lauren Brunk contributed a nice 5.71 miles to the charity! She also says hi Cody. Former distance runner, Anna Welton-Arndt ran a solid half marathon, or a little over at 13.18 miles! Nicely done Anna! Our last entry of the charity was former distance runner, Zach Mesplay at an astounding 15.54 miles! Nice job bringing it home Zach!

A final round of applause to all of our athletes that went out and ran for a good cause! You all should be proud of that. It is important, in times like these, to remember what you have to be thankful for. There are countless people in the world who are in far worse situations than you, so doing whatever you can to help will go a long way. I hope you all are staying safe and staying healthy during these times, and together we will get through it! Continue to run and be active, stay positive, and we’re all here for each other! I’ll see you all very soon for our final write-up of the year!

Team,

We received notice this evening that NIRCA has officially cancelled Track & Field Nationals with no possibility for a change in either date or venue. The board met tonight to discuss this matter along with how we wish to continue with the rest of the season given the uncertainty which lies ahead. At this time, we do not plan on sending athletes to meets the rest of the semester.

With that being said, this is not a complete shutdown of our season. For those of you who wish to continue your training we will work to provide a consistent practice schedule. Our event coaches will be sending out information in the near future regarding how your training group will proceed after break. In the event policies change at our university and others which allow us the ability to compete, we intend to do so. I encourage you all to continue your involvement with this team in some capacity the rest of the season. What I believe makes this group special is not the performances we have at meets, but the passion, energy, and love you all carry for this sport and your teammates.

On a personal note, I want to congratulate everyone who set new PR”s and broke their goals this indoor season. There”s nothing I”ve enjoyed more than watching you all compete. As I”ve said before, this is an extremely talented team. I had no doubt we would be coming home from Nationals with two trophies. I know you all will make up for it next year. Please reach out to me if you have any questions.

Love,
Cody Lund
Head Coach

Welcome back folks. For the third weekend in a row, Illinois Track & Field Club puts forth their best in an attempt to perform well. However, this is not like any other meet that has occured throughout the season. The Illinois Club Relays is the finale of the indoor track season for the Illini and is a chance for each individual to put their best foot forward and see what they can do before they head outdoors. We invited over 25 club teams, and many individual racers (700 athletes!), to come down to our beloved Champaign-Urbana Armory track to see if they could stand a chance at stripping our title (spoiler, they didn’t). At Club Relays, events are scored differently as opposed to a traditional track meet. The times/distances/heights of each team’s top 4 best performing athletes are added together and scored as a relay. Speaking in overall terms, on the women’s side, we won the 60m dash, 60m hurdles, mile, high jump, long jump, and triple jump. They also were able to snag second in the shot put and 3000 meter run! For the men, victorys were in the 60m hurdles, mile, and triple jump. Second place in shot put and tied for third in the high jump. Additionally, they placed 4th in the 60m dash and 5th in the 3000 meter run! The points from the top three finishing teams are listed below for the men’s and women’s.

Women’s Team Finishes
1. University of Illinois……………111
2. University of Michigan………..69
3. University of Wisconsin………62

Men’s Team Finishes
1. University of Illinois…………….94.5
2. University of Wisconsin……….68
3. University of Michigan…………66

After many years of close meets, the 26.5 point margin of victory on the men’s side was our largest since 2014! That was back when Grandpa Beau Barber was still an undergrad! For the women, this is the third straight year scoring over 100 points and also 5 more points than last year! Nice job Coach Bienduga!

Spectators and competitors got to witness intense competition while also watching people in jorts and ties hand-off a bagel baton in the 4×4. The diversity of this meet is unmatched, and neither is the energy. We’re all here because we enjoy running and racing one another, and that’s what this meet embodies, no matter the skill level. We saw tons of PR’s, many podium finishes, and countless smiles. With the introduction out of the way, let’s move onto the individual results just to see how much ITFC swept the competition.

The day began at around 10am with the first running events being the 60m hurdles. Starting with our women, we had three ladies represent us on the track. Tatiana Montanez came through with a winning time of 10.31s after three stepping for the first time and dropping a whole second off her time! Maria Becerra was next at a solid 11.51s and Taylor Millsap closed it out at a respectable 12.87s! Nicely done ladies!

On the men’s side, we saw the same trend. Josh James had an incredible showing, taking first place overall at 8.66s, now 2nd all time for our club! Well done Josh! Garret Barch followed up with a fourth place finish at 8.87s and Yousuf Ahmad was right behind him to secure fifth for the Illini at 8.90s, his first time ever under 9 seconds and 6th all time for the club! Elias Decker was next at 9.38s followed up by Alton Barbehenn at 9.55s! Closing it out for ITFC was PJ Coleman at a solid 11.76s! Great job men!

Men’s high jump was occurring in the infield with three Illinois athletes. Jacob Birg lead us at a solid 1.70m, with Jad Karajeh coming in at the same height! Andy Marszewski topped it off at a solid 1.50m. Excellent performances!

For the women, we saw Susan Whelton come in 2nd place overall with a height of 1.45m! Yuliya Ilnitzkaya wasn’t too far behind in 3rd with a height of 1.40! Nicely done ladies!

Back on the track, the women’s 60m dash was up. Securing yet another victory for the Illini was Ibu Ajifolokun with an outstanding time of 8.39s, earning the 7th spot on our All-Time best leaderboard! Following up in third overall was Natasha Ferrero with a solid 8.66s! Melissa Suarez closed it out nicely at 9.85s! Well done ladies!

On the men’s side, we had quite the showing. Leading the charge was Jalen Frazier at a speedy 7.29s! Andy Marszewski followed up close behind at 7.33s. Adam Adil and Shawn Rosofsky were practically neck-in-neck at 7.41 and 7.42 respectively! Andre Ells was next at a solid 7.45s, with Turner Hastings not too far off at 7.51, a very nice PR! Brend Hiserote debuted with an impressive 7.80, tying with Anthony Lu at an exact 7.80s! Matthew Steele came across the line at 7.85s with Nicolas Perez close behind at 7.93s! Sandin Cuturic finished in just over 8 seconds at 8.03! Sam Stabosz was next at a solid 8.22s finish and Shantanu Amin closed it off strong at a 9.53s! Well done men! As you can see, we have depth.

Onto the beginning of the main reason why this meet is referred to as “Illinois Club Relays”. Besides events being scored as relays, we offer the 4×800, 4×200, Sprint Medley, and of course the 4×400. The first relay of the day was the 4×800.

Kicking it off was the women’s 4×8, and earning a top 5 finish was our ‘A’ squad consisting of Julia Schultz, Emily Condic, Mikeelie Jensen, and Maddy Feehan with a solid 10:24.56 finish! Our ‘B’ squad was made up of Audrey Calkins, Lauren Bartels, Lauren Brunk, and Margo van Loon and together they managed a 11:11.89! Nicely done ladies! Our third and final women’s 4×8 consisted of MaryBeth Feeley, Gabriela Aguilar-Ripley, Mahum Chaudhary, and Maggie Kosterman and ran a 11:38.09! Great job everyone!

We had four men’s squads. Our ‘A’ squad secured the W and managed to place second overall on our All-Time Bests with a solid 7:59.55! Oh and it was run by Josh Mollway, Nikita Smyrnov, Patrick Willhalm, and John Kellum. Solid performance out there and an extraordinary comeback by Kellum as anchor, rumor has it Cody Lund’s heartbeat peaked at 115bpm during this race! The ‘B’ team consisting of Jeffrey Hesselbein, Drake Heisterkamp, Cade Baker, and Jacob Fleck managed to pull off a 8:33.47! ‘C’ squad wasn’t too far behind at 8:39.13 made up of Norb Nieves, Henry Hornbrook, Nathan Zachar, and Jonathan Walk. Closing it out was our ‘D’ team made up of Garrett Minich, Tristan Taylor, Spencer Robieson, and Will Thomas and finished in 9:07.99! Well done to all the 4×8 teams!

Long jump was up next. Starting with the women, we had Ibu Ajifolokun jump an impressive 4.70m which earned her 2nd place overall! Close behind in 4th was Jessica Zhang at 4.43m! Melissa Suarez closed it out for the Illini at 3.72m. Nicely done ladies!

On the men’s side, Andy Marszewski jumped a solid 5.85m! Triple jump star Jad Karajeh was next at a respectable 5.70m! Jacob Birg came in at a solid 5.47m. Brend Hiserote jumped a fantastic 5.14m and Shantanu Amin topped it off at 3.54m! Well done men!

Back on the track, the 4x200m relay was up. We had two 4×2 women teams, one of which placed first place overall! (Starting to see how we won the meet yet?) The ‘A’ team made up of Katherine Vande Pol, Ibu Ajifolokun, Natasha Ferrero, and Tatiana Montanez ran a combined time of 1:51.72 and placed first overall! Our ‘B’ team ran another solid time of 1:58.90, earning them fourth overall and consisted of Zoe Tsokolas, Maria Becerra, Keyana Diaz, and Ciara Ward. Great job ladies!

For the men, yet another Illini victory, and setting the club AND meet record by half a second! Our ‘A’ squad, consisting of Garret Barch, Alex Bienduga, Jalen Frazier, and Andy Marszewski secured first place overall and an amazing time of 1:31.91! Incredible! Our ‘B’ team made up of Anthony Lu, Adam Adil, Yousuf Ahmad, and Matthew Steele crossed the line with a cumulative time of 1:36.58! In an un-orderly fashion, our ‘D’ team was up next with a time of 1:46.72, just edging out our ‘C’ team. The ‘D’ team was made up of Sandin Cuturic, Shawn Rosofsky, Brend Hiserote, and PJ Coleman. The ‘C’ team got cucked by .03 seconds and ran a time of 1:46.75! Still faster than my 800 though so you’re all still fast. ‘C’ team was ran by Nicolas Perez, Elias Decker, Shantanu Amin, and Turner Hastings. Well done on all fronts men!

We’ll take a look at the shot put pit to see how we did on that front. On the women’s side, Inga Augustaitis placed second overall with an impressive throw of 9.64m! Drew Hong followed up nicely in fifth at 7.65m! Nicely done ladies!

For the men, throws coach Chris Rydberg came out on top with a first place finish of 12.65m! That’s the fifth spot on our All-Time bests leaderboard! Liam Nassib was next in fourth place overall at 11.35m. Kelvin Cross threw an impressive 10.46m with Sam Stabosz close behind with a 10.43m! Shantanu Amin closed it out with a solid 6.11m throw. Nicely done throwers!

The 3000 meter run was up next on the track, with a decent showing on both the men’s and women’s side, surprising Coach Lund with a second place on the women’s side and a sneaky 4 points grabbed by the men! Starting with the women’s, Grace Gudwien had a solid performance and finished fourth overall at 10:59.30! Brisa McGrath came in next at 11:14.47! Riley Maloney had an outstanding race at 12:18.80! Nicely done! Natalie Maguire finished it off for the Illini women at 13:08.15! Well done ladies!

For the men, Justin Ostrem had a solid race being seeded a “bit” faster and managed a 9:05.04! Eli Walker continued his hot streak after a year hiatus with a great race and a time of 9:12.81! Coming back a week after being sick with minimal running, Connor Farrell was able to cross the line at 9:16.95! Yours truly, Matthew Beckerman ran another PR race at 9:20.77! Zach Mesplay had a solid debut performance at 9:31.89! Alex Kogen came across the line at 9:38.57! Kogen read my writeups. Michael Gerkin came out for Club Relays and ran an impressive 9:42.44! Father Wassim Elhouar ran another respectable race at 10:17.30! Basketball fanatic Nathan Saltzman closed it out for the Illini at 10:23.43! Well done everyone!

Next set of races were the women’s and men’s 1600m sprint medley relay! Abbreviated the SMR, the legs are not of equal distance for those uninformed readers. The first two runners run 200 meters, the third leg runs a 400, and the anchor runs an 800.

We had one team on the women’s side of things, and of course you already know they took first place overall. Representing the Illini in the ‘A’ squad was Zoe Tsokolas, Maria Becerra, Ciara Ward, and Katherine Vande Pol with a time of 4:30.91! This places them in the fifth spot on our All-Time bests leaderboard! Nicely done ladies!

On the men’s side, we had two teams represent ITFC. The ‘A’ team consisted of Adam Adil, Garret Barch, Jalen Frazier, and Patrick Willhalm. Together, they got second place overall and finished at 3:41.21, taking seventh on our All-Time bests leaderboard! The ‘B’ squad consisted of Anthony Lu, Josh James, Andre Ells, and Drake Heisterkamp and they finished at 3:53.88! Nicely done men!

Next up is the horde known as the mile. There were over 300 runners between the men’s and women’s races, and 13 heats in the men’s. It was insane. We’ll start with the women.

A fantastic race by Julia Schultz with a huge surge to chase down the leader and managed to close a roughly 80 meter gap! Julia bagged second place overall for Illinois and ran an impressive 5:17.07! Nicely done! Brisa McGrath was one of the other unfortunate souls to do the 3k and mile double, but still managed a 5:36.28 mile! Grace Gudwien was in a similar boat and also managed a great time of 5:44.73! Mia Bertaud had a solid performance with a 5:49.83 finish! Clare Oehler was close behind at 5:51.24, with Maddy Feehan also close at 5:55.70! Emily Condic and Noel Brindise were basically tied at 6:03.25 and 6:03.34! Audrey Calkins crossed the line at 6:10.19 and tatted up Mikeelie Jensen finished at 6:14.46! Still plenty of ITFC runners to go. Lauren Bartels came across at 6:23.19! Mahum Chaudhary and Maggie Kosterman were also essentially tied at 6:25.93 and 6:25.99 respectively! Nicely done! MaryBeth Feeley was able to finish at 6:50.09! Katelyn Howley got very close to a sub 7 minute mile at 7:00.30, almost there! Natalie Maguire closed it out at a solid 7:14.51! Wow that was a lot of runners. Nicely done all around ladies!

There’s even more runners in the men’s. Get ready for a ton of names and a ton of times. Starting off strong, coming in for the 1, 2, 3 sweep was Josh Mollway, Nikita Smyrnov, and John Kellum at 4:25.47, 4:25.88, and 4:27.27 respectively. Hands-down, favorite race of the day to watch. Excellent racing by all three of them and perfect execution to secure the sweep. Next up was another incredible race which deserves recognition. Andrew Rhode finished at 4:32.17. A huge mid race surge to chase down the leader, similar to Julia’s race, and kept pushing as hard as he could. An absolute unit came out of nowhere and managed to outkick Rhode, but still a great race overall and the end of an incredible indoor season. Human anomaly, Evan Patel debuted his season with an impressive 4:37.64! This man can do extraordinary things with very little training or care for his well being. It’ll be interesting to see how he does outdoors. Jeffrey Hesselbein was next up, squeezing under 4:40 with a 4:39.54! Nicely done Hesselbit…Hesselbein! Spencer “Give me attention” Nelson came across at 4:40.17, getting shut out by Hesselbein. Head coach Cody Lund had an impressive mile at 4:40.66 with no racing all season! Alex Hanskat had a season PR for the 800 in his mile and managed a 4:40.93! Just missing Cody’s cheeks by over .20 seconds.

Splitting up this section because there are still a ton of athletes to go. Foolish man Justin Ostrem dared to do the 3k/mile/4×4 triple and felt it this mile. Still pulled off a 4:47.03 which was a lot better than his counterpart…myself…. Liam Bots had a great race with a time of 4:50.02! Cade Baker was next at a solid 4:52.49! Tim Green had an impressive race and finished at 4:53.52! Matthew Beckerman was the other fool to do the 3k/mile/4×4 triple and survived with a 4:53.78. We’ll see him and Ostrem again in the 4×4. Lucas Carrillo came across at a solid 4:53.81! Norb Nieves wasn’t too far behind at 4:54.24, another solid PR! Future Meyer animal, Jordan Meyer managed a decent sub 5 mile at 4:58.17! Nice job! Justin Baysore and Robbie Sieczkowski came very close at 5:12.01 and 5:12.14! Olan Bruyere was next at a solid 5:14.78! Thomas Tran came across the finish line at 5:16.25 with Matt Dickinson close behind at 5:17.50! John Feeley ran a solid race with a time of 5:23.65 and Isaac Schifferer closed it out at 6:00.89! DONE WITH THE MILE! Congrats to all the athletes who competed!

Before we move onto the 4x400m relay, we’ll finish off the field events with the triple jump. On the women’s side, Yuliya Ilnitzkaya secured second place overall at a solid 9.53m! Taylor Millsap was next up in fifth overall at 9.08m! Jessica Zhang was close behind in sixth at 9.06m! Well done ladies!

On the men’s side, we had our triple jump legend Jad Karajeh take home first place overall with a solid performance of 13.33m! Jacob Birg was next in fourth place at 11.61m! Nicolas Perez closed it out for the Illini at 11.16m! Nicely done men!

The last event of a very long day, the 4x400m relay. At this point it was about 7:30pm (give or take some minutes). We had 21 relay teams between the men and women heats, which if you do some fast math, is 84 athletes. This next section is going to be long. Get comfy!

Starting with the women, our ‘A’ team consisted of Katherine Vande Pol, Ibu Ajifolokun, Natasha Ferrero, and Tatiana Montanez. Together they took home the W with a time of 4:11.53, third on our All-Time best leaderboard! Next up our ‘B’ squad consisted of Zoe Tsokolas, Ciara Ward, Maria Becerra, and Katherine Miles and ran a cumulative time of 4:47.67! This is where the fun begins. Our ‘G’ (yes, G) team consisting of Julia Schultz, Mia Bertaud, Tiffany Yathaputanon, and Margo van Loon came across at 4:50.25! It’s gonna get disorganized very quickly with the team lettering. Next up at 4:51.77 was our ‘D’ squad consisting of Maggie Kosterman, Gabriela Aguilar-Ripley, Mahum Chaudhary, and MaryBeth Feeley! ‘C’ team was up next, made up of Susan Whelton, Jessica Zhang, Yuliya Ilnitzkaya, and Melissa Suarez and together these ladies ran a 4:55.65! Nicely done! Close behind was our ‘F’ team comprised of Lauren Bartels, Lauren Brunk, Emily Condic, and Clare Oehler and together they ran 4:56.23! Our ‘E’ team was even closer at 4:56.95 and made up of Mikeelie Jensen, Brisa McGrath, Audrey Calkins, and Maddy Feehan. Closing out the women’s section of the 4×4 was our ‘H’ team consisting of Riley Maloney, Natalie Maguire, Katelyn Howley, and Zoe Jacquat with a solid time of 5:46.80! Nicely done everyone!

Onto the beefy men’s section. Let’s see how long the alphabetical order goes for team letterings and their respective finishes. Starting off with our ‘A’ squad, made up of Alex Bienduga, Jalen Frazier, Patrick Willhalm, and Andy Marszewski with an impressive time of 3:29.53 and an eighth spot on our All-Time best leaderboard! Not only that, but they also bagged the W! Next up was the ‘B’ team consisting of Josh Mollway, John Kellum, Andre Ells, and Drake Heisterkamp with a solid time of 3:40.43! Nicely done! ‘C’ team was close behind at 3:41.04, made up of Josh James, Elias Decker, Adam Adil, and Garret Barch, well done! The ‘E’ team, consisting of Cody Lund, Alex Hanskat, Jeffrey Hesselbein, and Nikita Smyrnov was next up at a solid finish of 3:47.31! The ‘G’ squad, codenamed: “Boys Who Cry” followed up at a 3:52.94, made up of Evan Patel, Mackenzie Bach, Eli Walker, and Connor Farrell. Nicely done boys! Our ‘D’ team was comprised of Anthony Lu, PJ Coleman, Yousuf Ahmad, and Turner Hastings with a solid time of 3:53.37! Great job!

Splitting this up just like the mile because there are still about half of the teams remaining. Following up close behind the ‘D’ team was our ‘H’ team at 3:53.93, made up of Henry Hornbrook, Spencer Robieson, Jonathan Walk, and Nathan Zachar. Nice job men! The ‘F’ squad consisted of Spencer Nelson, Tristan Taylor, Malachi Robinson, and Norb Nieves and together they were able to run a combined time of 3:56.26! Nicely done! Our ‘I’ team was made up of Lucas Carrillo, Garrett Minich, Liam Bots, and Tim Green and were able to cross the finish line at 3:56.91! Almost done, I promise. Our ‘K’ team consisted of Alex Kogen, Andrew Rhode, Jacob Fleck, and Olan Bruyere with a solid time of 3:59.19, well done! The ‘L’ squad (no L’s taken today) was made up of Cade Baker, John Feeley, Jordan Meyer, and Kevin Callahan to run a great race with a time of 4:02.45! Great job gentlemen! Our ‘M’ team consisted of Matthew Beckerman, Justin Ostrem, Arthur Mazzeo, and Jarod Meyer. Having two fools who triple entered, and a man who just finished a 12 hour travel day from California to show up and run a 400, somehow managed a 4:05.61. Well done men! Our final 4×4 squad, the ‘J’ team consisted of Wassim Elhouar, Isaac Schifferer, Thomas Tran, and Justin Baysore topped off Club Relays 2020 with a 4:17.41 finishing time! Congrats to our massive 4×400 effort!

And just like that, Illinois Club Relays 2020 is a wrap! Massive shout out to Bryan Himmel for coordinating the meet this year. Without him, this wouldn’t have been possible. Also shout out to Cody Lund and Alex Bienduga for their efforts of getting things organized and also having to proofread this monster of a writeup, I appreciate you both. As stated in the title, ITFC walked away with their 12th consecutive win and I’m sure they’ll do the same for the 2021 Club Relays and so on. This couldn’t have been done without the incredible efforts put forth by each of our athletes, so a final congrats to everyone who came out and competed! Now, we look ahead to the outdoor season. We have quite a bit of downtime between now and our next meet (March 28th), followed up by Nationals early April. Train well and consistent these next 4 weeks to stay in competing shape. Thank you to all the other teams and athletes that came out and competed as well, we’re all hoping you return next year and spread word so that we may have even more athletes competing! Also wanted to thank Milesplit and NIRCA for showcasing the meet on their respective social media accounts! And the truth is…I am NIRCA.

Official Results:
https://results.shazamracing.com/meets/5579

Being on a club team is always interesting. When telling people that I run on a club team, some responses may include: “Oh that’s cool, so like 10-20 of you get together and run?” or “That’s awesome! Do you guys still go to meets?” or “What’s your mile time?”. Then after I flex my mediocre mile time from high school, I mention that our club team has athletes that can stack up against, and win against competitive D2 and D3 athletes; their whole perspective changes. We are an entirely student-run track team with the same firing power as some impressive varsity teams, and that was the case this past weekend at the University of Chicago. Countless PR’s sprinkled in with some All-Time Bests, and topped off with just an overall great time. The Illini took a huge step forward in the week leading up to Club Relays, let’s take a look at the individual results to see just how well they performed.

At 11am, bright and early for a college student, the Women’s 5k stepped onto the track. Our very own Margo van Loon represented us, running a staggering 21:53.64! What a time!

Next up was the women’s 60 meter hurdles. First up was Desarae Echevarria running a speedy 10.22s! Had we been allowed to qualify for the finals, Des would have made it for the women. Following up right behind her was Maria Becerra finishing in 11.79s! Nicely done ladies!

Next up, the gentlemen 60 meter hurdles. Our top 3 sprinters would have qualified for the finals, and placed very well, just an FYI cough UChicago cough. First up, Garret Barch at an impressive 8.76s! That’s a third All-Time Best! Following behind was Josh James at 8.84s, and Yousuf Ahmad at 9.14s! Nicely done men! Continuing the Illini barrage was Elias Decker at a blistering 9.96s! Finishing it off for the Illini was PJ Coleman with a 12.61s finish! Great job all around guys!

We’re going to interrupt this running and move our gaze to the field events, where athletes have just started to compete. First up, women’s high jump.

Our solo star, Yuliya Ilnitzkaya jumped an impressive 1.43m! Well done Yuliya!

Opening next, was the women’s long jump. First was Jessica Zhang with an impressive 4.41m! That’s pretty far folks! Unfortunately, Melissa Suarez fouled out, but will be back stronger than ever at Club Relays, mark my words.

We’ll come back to the field events after some more running events take place. Women’s 60 meter dash seems to be next!

Barely making it to the race after competing in long jump was Melissa Suarez who ran an impressive 10.15s! Our only showing but a fast one nonetheless! Great job Melissa!

The men’s squad came to play. First up for the Illini was Adam Adil with a quick 7.40s! Following up at exactly the same time was Shawn Rosofsky, also a 7.40s! Nice job men! Andre Ells was next up with a 7.54s finish, followed up by Turner Hastings at 7.61s! Pretty freaking fast! Matthew Steele came out with a solid 7.82s finish! Bienduga meme enthusiast, Shantanu Amin topped it off at a solid 9.77s 60! Well done gentlemen! Excited to see what you all can do at Club Relays next week!

Unfortunately, none of our men were up for the men’s 5k, so we look back to the field events where another round of events have opened.

Starting with the men’s long jump, Andy Marszewski pulled off an impressive 6.00m! Like last week for the weak-minded imperial users, that’s like 18ft! Insane! Jad Karajeh followed up suitably at 5.88m! Shantanu Amin unfortunately fouled out but will be back at Club Relays without a doubt hungry for a second chance. Great job men!

Back to the track! Women’s mile was the next race. A time that would have gotten her a top 5 finish was Brisa McGrath with an impressive 5:30.29 finish! Nice job Brisa! Not too far behind was Clare Oehler-O’Sullivan at 5:52.82! Packed up almost right next to each other were Lauren Bartels and Mahum Chaudhary at 6:24.04 and 6:32.17 respectively! Maggie Kosterman finished it off at a solid 6:43.34! Nice job ladies!

On the men’s side, we had quite the showing of Illini as well! A very impressive race by Nikita Smyrnov with a huge comeback in the second half got him a very fast time of 4:28.57! Following up right behind was Josh Mollway at another fast time of 4:31.59! Great race to watch men! Next up was ex-cross country treasurer and future con-man Alex Kogen at a steady 4:50.55! Close behind was Lucas Carrillo at an impressive sub 5 time of 4:54.08! Tim Green and Liam Bots were even closer and both managed sub 5 minute miles at 4:55.71 and 4:56.18 respectively! Liam and Lucas both won their respective heats and rumor has it the three of them want to fight it out at Club Relays to see who comes out on top! Stay tuned for some spicy distance action! Norb Nieves managed to break the 5 minute barrier at an edgy 4:59.60! Thomas Tran was next up at a solid 5:13.24! Finishing it off for the Illini was a solid group of three. Justin Baysore at 5:20.99, Isaac Schifferer at 5:22.48, 14 seconds faster than just one week ago! John Feeley came in strong at 5:24.98! Nice job all around gentlemen!

Before we move onto the remaining running events, it’s time to close out the field events.

Representing the Illini in the men’s triple jump was Jad Karajeh at an astounding 13.91m! Not only was this over a meter PR for Jad, but he also demolished the previous club record of 13.07m. No doubt he’ll be doing much better outdoors. Not to mention all of that and a third place overall in the triple jump!

Next up was the women’s shot put. Drew Hong threw a solid 7.46m. Nice job Drew! On our men’s side, we had Shantanu Amin throw a whopping 6.32m! A pretty solid PR! Excellent performance throwers and to our entire field events crew!

On the track, women’s 400 meter dash. Natasha Ferrero showed up with an impressive 1.05.44! Close behind was Tatiana Montanez at 1:06.07! Nicely done ladies!

For the men, Jalen Frazier ran an impressive 51.97! Earning second place overall! Close behind was Justin Davis in third at 52.17! Nice job men! Finishing it off was Turner Hastings at a solid 57.28, dropping significant time over the last few weeks! Well done all around!

The mid-distance squad had a chance to compete in the 800 meter run. Starting with the women, Katherine Vande Pol ran a speedy 2:22.17 which earned her third place overall! Well done Katherine! Mikeelie Jensen was next up at 2:36.51 and following right on her heels was Maddy Feehan at a solid 2:37.73! Excellent job! Closing out was MaryBeth Feeley and Mahum Chaudhary with solid sub 3 minute times at 2:56.42 and 2:59.04 respectively! Great performances ladies!

On the men’s side, the Illini went home with the first place AND second place podium finishes! Not bad for a club team! The always-smiling runner John Kellum has just been killing it all season. Finishing in 1:57.14, this man beat second place by almost 2 seconds! Great job John! We’re all excited to see what you can pull off at Club Relays! Distance coach Josh Mollway was able to snag that second place spot right at the end at 1:59.07. Still in the top 10 was mid-distance coach Patrick Willhalm at a fast time of 2:01.42! Getting close to that sub 2 minute milestone aren’t ya Patrick? Next up was Jeffrey Hesselbein at a solid 2:04.47, taking home the W for his heat! Jacob Fleck had an impressive race with a 2:07.89 finish! Close behind was Cade Baker at 2:08.17! Nice job gentlemen! Nathan Zachar finished at 2:11.21, so close to getting under that 2:10 barrier! Norb Nieves ran a respectable 2:15.08 and topping it off was none other than father Beau Barber at an impressive 2:15.47! Great job all around men!

After the 800, some real speedsters were up in the 200 meter dash. Starting with our women, Desarae Echevarria sprinted a solid time of 28.39s! Zoe Tsokolas followed that up with an impressive 29.23s time, and wrapping it up was Maria Becerra with a 29.79s! Nicely done ladies!

On the men’s side of things, Garret Barch ran an impressive 23.25s! Very close behind was Andy Marszewski at 23.35s! President, and meme goldmine, Alex Bienduga was third for the Illini at a solid 23.47s! Nice job gentlemen! But it doesn’t stop there! Adam Adil was creeping up on Alex at a 23.80s finish. Yousuf Ahmad was next at a great time of 24.72s, with Matthew Steele to follow up nicely at 25.58s! Sandin Cuturic closed it out nicely for the Illini at a solid 27.43s! Well done everyone!

The distance squad was up again, this time for the 3000 meter run. The women sent forth Grace Gudwien to run a respectable 10:55.20! Look out for her at Club Relays to do some real damage!

Leading the charge for the men was sophomore out of Wheaton, IL Justin Ostrem with a solid time of 9:14.64, winning his heat! Some serious speed for a man with little speed to no speed work. The debut of Eli Walker’s season was a long awaited return. After pushing himself past the limits last year at Club Relays, he came back strong almost a year later at 9:24.21! Look out for him next week, he’s hungry for a faster time. Matthew Beckerman had an impressive race of 9:25.58! A 20 second PR! Future beans boy Jordan Meyer managed a sub 10 minute time of 9:59.02! Nice job! Wassim Elhouar crossed the line at 10:18.69, but he’s looking to greatly improve in the coming races. Well done all around gentlemen!

The main course, the most hype event, the 4×400 meter relay. Rumor has it ITFC has over 20 TEAMS stacked for club relays next week 0_0. This week however, we had one women’s team and they finished third overall! Comprised of Katherine Vande Pol, Clare Oehler-O’Sullivan, Ciara Ward, and Desarae Echevarria, these ladies were able to crank out a solid time of 4:28.09! Well done!

For the men, the Illini came with 3 4×400 relay teams. Our ‘A’ team was made up of Andre Ells, Josh James, Patrick Willhalm, and John Kellum. Together they pulled off an impressive 3:36.16 and a second place overall finish from a cheeky lean by Kellum! Nicely done! The ‘B’ squad, Elias Decker, Drake Heisterkamp, Beau Barber, and Nikita Smyrnov, crossed the line in 3:42.86! Great job men! The ‘C’ team was made up of Norb Nieves, Tristan Taylor, Malachi Robinson, and Spencer Nelson and together they finished in 3:56.42, winning their heat due to a crazy comeback pulled off by Spencer! Great job all around!

As we wrap up this weekend at the University of Chicago, ITFC sets their gaze on the horizon at Club Relays. This may sound a bit biased, but Club Relays is one of the best indoor meets in the nation for club running. It’s the benchmark meet for the indoor season and is an all around great time. Expect to see some fast times, great competition, and tons of memes. Great job to everyone that competed this past weekend, there is no doubt that a lot of you should be happy with your performances. Now it’s time to prepare for next weekend. Let’s go take our 12th W in a row.

Official Results:
https://athletics.uchicago.edu/sports/mtrack/2019-20/files/ITF-MB-invite-results.pdf

Much like getting sick on the beaches of Ecuador, the Illini faced the competition offered by the University of Indianapolis with sheer will and determination. In the midst of rigorous training, the Illini still had some standout performances. It is important to emphasize that the track season has a long way to go before the athletes begin to “peak” as it’s called. Whether your performance was a PR or far from, keep this thought in the back of your mind. Come to practice hungry and determined to run fast, jump high, or throw far. Just under two weeks until the biggest indoor club meet in the nation, have that be your benchmark. With that out of the way, onto the individual results!

The day started around noon with the opening of the field events. First up, men’s long jump. Andy Marszewski was our first chosen athlete to compete, jumping an incredible 5.89m! Following behind was social coordinator Shantanu Amin with an impressive 3.84m! For you imperial scum, that’s over 12ft!

For the women’s, we saw Ibu Ajifolokun jump an impressive 4.84m which secured her the 4th spot on our All-Time bests leaderboard! Following up on that was Melissa Suarez jumping a solid 3.56m! Nice job to our long jump athletes!

With no Illini being represented in the triple jump, we moved on to the shot put where we had one lone athlete compete. Shantanu Amin came in and threw an impressive 5.48m! More Bienduga memes are coming Shantanu, don’t you worry.

That concludes our field event portion for this meet, we hope to see more out there next week at the University of Chicago! But now, it’s time to look onto the track and see how our running athletes stacked up.

Starting with the women’s 60m hurdles, Desarae Echevarria came across the finish at a blistering 10.40s! Following up was Maria Becerra at 11.93s finish! Not bad for her first ever hurdle race! Excellent job ladies!

For the men’s hurdles, Josh James did not disappoint when he finished top 5 in the finals with a 8.81s finish! Josh has been working on his starting steps at practice and his new strategy of 7 steps over 8 should lead to faster times later this season! Excellent race! Just barely missing qualifying, but no doubt that will come in the future was Yousuf Ahmad with a 9.25s. Alton Barbehenn finished it up for the Illini with a strong 9.83s. Great job gentlemen!

Next up, the 60m dash! Starting with the ladies, Ibu Ajifolokun opened up with a 8.48s finish! Securing the 7th spot on our All-Time bests leaderboard! Following her was Melissa Suarez with a 10.28s! Nice job ladies!

On the men’s side, we saw Jalen Frazier run an impressive 7.31s time! Close behind was Shawn Rosofsky with a 7.41s finish! Our very own President Alex Bienduga sprinted a blistering 7.47s! Coach Helberg would be proud, kid. Next up was a very close finish between Matthew Steele and Turner Hastings. Steele came across at 7.80s with Hastings right on his heels at 7.82s! Unfortunately they weren’t in the same heat but great performances nonetheless! Sandin Cuturic made his season debut with a 8.18s finish and Shantanu Amin came across at 9.80s! This man does it all I swear.

Next event on the track was the 400 meters, sprinters version of “distance”. On our women’s team, we saw Katherine Vande Pol on the edge of a top 5 finish with a 1:01.35 performance! Awesome job! Desarae Echevarria was next for the Illini at a speedy 1:07.46, an excellent race! Ciara Ward topped it off for the Illini at a solid 1:08.31 race. Nice job all around ladies!

On the men’s side, Andy Marszewski showed up and secured a top 5 finish for the Illini with a solid 52.36s time! Distance / mid-distance hybrid John Kellum decided to give the 400 a try and ran a solid 53.76s race, just getting him into the top 10! Next was Henry Hornbrook with a respectable 55.57s time! Alton Barbehenn and Beau Barber had pretty close finishes, once again separated by heats. Barbehenn finished at 56.37s while Barber finished at 56.49s. Nice job men! Turner Hastings finished with a speedy time of 57.85s! Great job to all of our 400 meter runners!

A nice break from sprinting events leads us to the mile run. Distance runners most favorite event to flex.

Starting with the women’s mile, freshman Brisa McGrath had an amazing race that landed her in the top 10 with a 5:39.95! Lauren Bartels also had a standout race in the mile, finishing at a blistering 6:15.72, 10 seconds faster than at IWU and a lifetime PR! We have some fast ladies on the team! Gabriela Aguilar-Ripley was next for the Illini at a solid 6:31.32! Following up was Mahum Chaudhary with an impressive 6:39.44! Angela Wu came across the finish at a solid 6:44.13 and closing it out was Natalie Maguire with an amazing 7:03.12! Well done ladies!

On the men’s side, we apparently had some issues with timing in one of the heats so we’ll give an estimated time for that athlete. Starting us off was steeplechase coach Justin Ostrem with a respectable 4:41.18! Not bad for mid indoor season! Arthur Mazzeo just wedged under the 5 minute milestone for a solid 4:59.89! Awesome job! Justice Carter ran a strong race and finished in 5:10.45! Thomas Tran had some timing issues on the official results. Based on some complex mathematical equations, we estimate Tran crossed the line between 5:15 and 5:17 based on how fast he ran his final lap. Still an excellent job nonetheless! Isaac Schifferer came across at a solid 5:36.02, beating his IWU time by 12 seconds! A round of applause for our mile runners!

Next on the track was the infamous 800 meter run, it’s like a 400 just twice!

Representing our women athletes was none other than Natalie Maguire who ran a solid 3:18.03! Way to represent the Illini Natalie! Hoping to see more of our women out there next week!

The men’s 800 meter run was a sight to behold. I wish I could have been there to see it in person. John Kellum not only ran a season PR in the indoor 800, but he also won the race and placed 6th on our all time best leaderboard! Kellum ended up winning with a 1:59.77, the only one to go sub 2 that day. Amazing job Kellum, excited to see what comes at Club Relays! But wait, there’s more! Nikita Smyrnov came across the line in third place! Shaving close to 3 seconds off his time from IWU and a season best at 2:01.20! Excellent job Nikita!

Drake Heisterkamp also had a solid performance at 2:07.43! Excellent race! Cade Baker had an awesome race and finished with a 2:11.24! Jonathan Walk debuted his season with a solid 2:12.29! After that, we had an awesome stream of Illini, coming in one after another in their heat. Henry Hornbrook finished at 2:15.66, Nathan Zachar came across right on his heels at 2:15.83, Norb Nieves shortly after at 2:16.11 which was an 8 second improvement from IWU! Finally old man Beau Barber with a solid 2:16.65! Spencer Robieson closed it out for the Illini at 2:20.27. Excellent job men!

Back to sprinting events, the 200 meter sprint was next. Representing the women was Katherine Vande Pol with a 27.68, a time worthy of taking 5th on our All-Time leaderboard! Next for the Illini was another All-Time best, Ibu Ajifolokun ran a fast 27.99 taking the 6th spot on our leaderboard! Following her was Natasha Ferrero with a solid 29.25! Wrapping it up for the horde that is known as the 200 meter dash was Maria Becerra with a respectable 30.03! So close to breaking that 30 second barrier!

For the men, we had quite a few gentlemen represent the Illini. Starting off was Andy Marszewski with a top 10 finish at 23.32! Alex Bienduga somehow weaseled his way into the top 10 as well at 10th place by just .01 of a second with a time of 23.47. Cutting it close Mr. President! Jalen Frazier came across at a speedy 23.60! Yousuf Ahmad finished with a solid 24.68 and not too far behind was Shawn Rosofsky at 24.98! Matthew Steele had a DQ time listed in the results, but based on trusted sources, he ran an impressive 25.32! He’ll be back next week so keep an eye out. Wrapping it up for the men’s 200 was Sandin Cuturic with a solid time of 27.18! Great job gentlemen!

Next event on the track was the 3000 meter run! Representing our women’s squad, we had Grace Gudwien run a speedy 10:42.83 and finish third overall! Nice job Grace!

On the men’s side of things, our very own distance coach Josh Mollway lead the charge with an impressive 9:08.51 and a first place for his heat! Nice job Josh! Usual mid-distance runner Andrew Rhode showed off his distance prowess with a 9:29.04! Beans boy Jarod Meyer had a respectable race with a 9:53.28 finishing time! Nathan Saltzman came across the line at 10:35.35, finishing it off for the Illini. Great job men! Olan Bruyere was another victim to fall to the timing issues. The results had him at 10:12.40, but more accurately would have been close to under 11 minutes. Still great performances all around!

Final event of the day, 4×400 meter relay. Starting with our women’s relay teams, our ‘A’ squad consisted of Desarae Echevarria, Ibu Ajifolokun, Natasha Ferrero, and Ciara Ward. These speedy gals were able to secure a second place finish for the team with a cumulative time of 4:25.90! Excellent job ladies! Our ‘B’ squad consisted of Maria Becerra, Brisa McGrath, Mikeelie Jensen, and Angela Wu. Together, they managed a 5:02.29 total time. Excellent races ladies!

Our men came to UIndy with three 4×400 relay teams. In an un-orderly fashion, our ‘B’ team ended up finishing first consisting of Nikita Smyrnov, Drake Heisterkamp, Alton Barbehenn, and Jeffrey Hesselbein. Together, they pulled off an impressive 3:42.41. Nice job men! Our ‘A’ squad followed up with a 3:51.41 consisting of Josh James, Josh Mollway, Patrick Willhalm, and John Kellum. Great performance! Our ‘C’ squad was made up of Norb Nieves, Jonathan Walk, Beau Barber, and Nathan Zachar. They managed to cross the line at 4:02.00. Excellent performances all around gentlemen!

It was a solid day all around for the Illini, and each athlete should have something to walk away with. As stated at the beginning, we are currently in the midst of intense training not only to gear up for Club Relays, but for the whole outdoor season as well. If your performance wasn’t where you wanted it to be, analyze what could be improved on and go for it. We still have a long season ahead of us and weeks of training and racing to help build up for Nationals and beyond. This is ITC signing off, we’ll see you at UChicago.

There is unrest in the running world. As the devastating month of January comes to an end, a new hope is on the horizon. This past Saturday, February 1st, the Illinois Track Club traveled across the great plains to Bloomington, IL where they faced great competition, and reaped great rewards. President Alex Bienduga claimed close to 70 ITC athletes competed. We’ll see if his reputation of lies and trickery upholds. Regardless, it was a great day to watch the Illini compete. Close photo-finishes, life-time PR’s, and all wrapped up with an exquisite family dinner at the local Champaign Culvers. So sit back, relax, grab some popcorn, and enjoy.

The day started at 10:15am when the women’s 5k began. Unfortunately for the Illini, no single woman decided to run this event. Big sad! However, just 20 minutes later, a lone wolf stepped up for the men’s 5k. Wassim Elhouar ran a smooth 17:58. By no means is this the fastest this man can run, but it’s an excellent place to be at for the beginning of the season. Especially on an indoor track.

While the 5k races were happening, our field friends were out showing how strong ITC is. Sadly no women were representing the Illini in the women’s shot, however we did have athletes in the men’s section. Leading for the Illini was our very own throws coach! Chris Rydberg threw a whopping 12.60m! Incredible! Sam Stabosz followed suit at a 10.10m throw, and Kelvin Cross right on his heels at 10.09m. Our very own social coordinator Shantanu Amin finished the Illini strong at 5.97m. Excellent job gentlemen!

In the long jump sections, we had Melissa Suarez representing the Illini women at a 3.24m! For the men, Jad Karajeh led the charge at an incredible 5.85m! Grant Brown followed suit at an impressive 5.39m. Well done athletes!

Next set of field events were the triple jump sections. Representing ITC in the women’s section was Yuliya Ilnitzkaya, jumping an incredible 9.52m! For the men, we had Jad Karajeh place in the top 5, jumping 12.88m! This places him at the #2 spot for All-Time performances for indoor track! Great job Jad! Following up was Nicolas Perez at 11.07m. Great performances all around by the Illini!

Unfortunately, ITC doesn’t have any pole vaulters (rip). So the next, and final field event would be the high jump! For the women, we had one lone athlete compete for the Illini. Yuliya Ilnitzkaya jumped an incredible 1.40m! Continuing the trend of lone competitors, Jacob Birg jumped 1.75m for the high! Well done athletes!

Swinging our attention back to the track, the 60 meter hurdles prelims are underway. Starting with the women, Desarae Echevarria ran a speedy 10.59! Teammate Tatiana Montanez followed up nicely at 11.89! Nice job ladies! For our men, we saw Josh James lead the pack and run 8.91 which earned him a qualifying spot! Amazing performance by Josh! Elias Decker was next for the Illini at 9.50 and Joseph Bleyer wrapped it up for the team at 10.03. Great races by everyone!

For the 60 meter dashes, no women were representing the Illini, however we did have our men athletes run strong races. Leading the charge was Jalen Frazier with a blistering 7.30. Next race would have been a photo-finish had they been in the same heat. Travel coordinator Andy Marszewski edged out President Alex Bienduga by just 2 hundredths of a second. Andy ran a 7.35 and Alex finished in 7.37. Alex’s comments post race were “The 60 isn’t my race”. Clearly. Next up for the Illini was Andre Ells at 7.49. Following close behind was Grant Brown at 7.56. Excellent job gentlemen, but we aren’t done yet! Turner Hastings crossed the line at 7.74. Nicolas Perez was able to run a speedy 8.17. PJ Coleman sprinted across at 8.99 and Shantanu Amin finished in 9.75 seconds. What a showing by the Illini in the men’s 60 meter dash!

Next event on the track was the mile! This race was stacked full of Illini throughout all heats. Leading the women was Mia Bertaud at 5:53.26! Incredible time! Next up was a close race between Audrey Calkins and Lauren Brunk, finishing in 6:11.61 and 6:13.19 respectively. Next for the Illini was Ally Tippett at a speedy finish of 6:20.88. Nice job! Riley Maloney wasn’t too far behind at 6:22.52 and Brianna Legner was right on her heels at 6:22.98! Such a close race! Lauren Bartels finished in 6:25.61 and Sarah High finished it off for the Illini at 7:16.50. Excellent job ladies!

Onto the men! Starting off strong was our very own distance coach Josh Mollway at a whopping 4:26.09! Following up not far behind was legendary John Kellum at a blistering 4:28.44! These two showed excellent team work during the race and should be proud of their finishes. Andrew Rhode had, what may seem, the race of his college career. About halfway through the race, this man, this animal, had one of the biggest surges ever witnessed in club running. Going from mid-pack all the way up to 2nd place and gaining on the leader, Rhode managed to pull off a 4:36.57. An incredible effort all around.

Coming up next in the mile was steeplechase coach icon, Justin Ostrem. Ostrem busted out a 4:47.44 after a flaky off season riddled with illness. Great job out there! Gaining fast and coming for Coach O’s rear was haus legend Jarod Meyer. A late race surged secured a 4:48.74 for this unit. Well done lad! Alex Kogen was not too far behind at 4:50.87. The next set of Illini in the mile were all relatively close in finish, two of which were in the same heat which lead to a great race to watch. Jacob Fleck came across at 4:57.57. Cade Baker finished in 5:01.48, so close to that sub 5 milestone! Norb Nieves came across shortly after at 5:02.76. Surely sub 5 is inevitable for these two runners!

Think we’re done with the mile? Nope! Nathan Zachar finished at 5:09.21. Nice job! A close race between Thomas Tran at 5:22.90 and Justin Baysore at 5:24.27. And finally, Isaac Schifferer closed out the mile for the Illini at 5:48.65. Well done to all the men that ran in the mile! Excellent performances all around and still plenty of opportunities for improvement!

Next event was the 60 meter hurdles finals! Josh James was back on the track and secured 6th overall at 8.79, 4th All-Time club fastest for men! Excellent finish Josh!

After the 60 finals were the 400s. In the women’s sections, we had three athletes represent the orange and blue. Leading was Katherine Vande Pol at 1:03.04! Once again a 4th All-Time fastest for women! Tatiana Montanez was next at 1:09.25 and Ciara Ward closed it out at 1:09.41. Great performances ladies!

For the men, we had two athletes competing. Mid-distance coach himself, Patrick Willhalm finished in an astounding 53.96! Teammate Turner Hastings finished not too far behind at 58.11! Great job gentlemen!

Onto the 800s! On the women’s side, we had Mikeelie Jensen lead the way at a solid 2:33.68! Next up was Audrey Calkins crossing the line at 2:49.84. Excellent job! Close behind was Angela Wu at 2:50.83. Ally Tippett wasn’t too far behind at a 2:55.17! And topping it off was MaryBeth Feeley finishing at a 3:04.67. So close to that sub 3 minute milestone! Excellent job all around ladies!

Just like the mile, we have a ton of men who raced in the men’s sections of the 800. 13 athletes to be exact. To start, we once again saw Josh Mollway and John Kellum running well together! The finish was quite close this time with Mollway at 2:00.85 and Kellum at 2:00.91! Well done men! Next up was Nikita Smyrnov at a solid 2:04.73! Following him was Jeffrey Hesselbein at 2:06.15! Excellent races!

This next race ended in excellent fashion. Andrew Rhode once again had an outbreak of a race accompanied by his teammate Spencer Nelson. In the final stretch, both of them performed what secretary Patel describes as a “Saints Pass”. Essentially overtaking a runner from either side simultaneously. Nelson was able to edge out Rhode slightly in the finish at 2:06.53 while Rhode finished in 2:06.68, both of them earning a #1 and #2 finish in their heat! Awesome race gentleman and a very exciting one to witness!

Drake Heisterkamp came in at a solid 2:07.66. Well done! Henry Hornbrook lead the next batch of Illini at a strong 2:12.86. Following him was Beau Barber at 2:16.05. On the old man’s heels was a slightly less old man, Jacob Fleck finished at 2:16.31. Excellent performances by the boomers! Nathan Zachar was next at 2:17.95. Close behind but unfortunately in a different heat was Alex Hanskat at 2:17.99. Finishing it off for ITC was Norb Nieves at 2:24.26. Well done men! Many more opportunities to race lie ahead if you weren’t pleased with your performances. Great job nonetheless!

Closing in on our final events. Next up is the 200 meter dash. On the women’s side, Katherine Vande Pol lead the Illini with a 28.16! 6th All-Time for women! That’s fast! Following behind was Zoe Tsokolas at 29.10 and Natasha Ferrero at 29.80! All ladies ran sub 30 seconds! That”s amazing! Well done!

In the men’s sections of the 200, President Alex Bienduga opened up with a 23.36 and snuck his way into the top 10! Great job supreme leader! Next up was Jalen Frazier and Andre Ells. Separated by heats but still neck-and-neck. Frazier finished at 24.31 while Ells came across at 24.34. Elias Decker wasn’t too far behind at a 25.78! Closing out for the men’s 200 was PJ Coleman and Shantanu Amin running 30.06 and 34.57 respectively. Well done men and great job on your races!

The second to last event of the day was the 3k. In the women’s races, the Illini had two athletes represent them. Grace Gudwien came across at 10:48.15! This was an incredible race given her limited running, and only 7 seconds off her PR! Excellent job! Brisa McGrath followed suit at 11:19.19! Well done ladies!

For the men’s races, Connor Farrell lead the charge at a solid 9:23.59! Beating his time at this race last year! Fresh off the mile, Justin Ostrem was able to pull off a 9:40.80 on dead legs, not bad for the mile/3k double! Matthew Beckerman ran a smooth race at 9:45.00 and should be able to drop that time in races to come. Ian Dempsey finished it off at 11:01.26! Just a few more weeks of training and that sub 11-minute time is there! Great performances everyone!

Now for the main event, the most hype event of any track meet. The 4×400 relay. Representing the women’s ‘A’ team was Desarae Echevarria, Katherine Vande Pol, MaryBeth Feeley, and Tatiana Montanez. Excellent racing by these ladies landed them with a 4:30.78! Nice job! The women’s ‘B’ team consisted of Ciara Ward, Zoe Tsokolas, Mikeelie Jensen, and Natasha Ferrero. Combined they pulled off a 4:33.96. Well done!

Final race of the day, the men’s 4×400. ITC brought 4 men’s relay teams to compete. Starting off with the ‘A’ team, Alex Bienduga, Jalen Frazier, Andy Marszewski, and Justin Davis managed a 5th place spot and a combined time of 3:32.76! This places them at the #9 spot for All-Time indoor track records, however they’ll be going much faster in the coming weeks. Well done men! Next up was the ‘B’ team consisting of Patrick Willhalm, Elias Decker, Andre Ells, and Josh James. These four men were able to run 3:42.15. An excellent time for them! ITC’s ‘C’ team consisted of Drake Heisterkamp, Jeffrey Hesselbein, John Kellum, and Andrew Rhode. These men combined finished in 3:44.48! Well done! And finally, the ‘D’ team consisted of Nikita Smyrnov, Henry Hornbrook, Beau Barber, and Matthew Beckerman. Combined, they were able to put down a solid 3:49.27! Great job by everyone!

What seemed like a long day through this post actually flew by as fast as our athletes. We had a huge showing of Illini and we couldn’t be more proud of each and every one of them. For those that are proud of their performances, good. You’ve earned it. Keep putting in the solid training you have been and come back stronger each race. For those that aren’t happy. That’s ok. It’s only the beginning of February and track is a long season. Keep coming to practice and putting in consistent effort and you’ll get the results you want. A final congratulations to all of our athletes and thank you to our coaches for pushing them to their bests. We’ll see you next time at the U Indy Invitational on February 15th 2020!

Official Results:
https://www.iwusports.com/documents/2020/2/1/titanopenresults_2_.pdf

Thanks for keeping the seat warm IXC, but now it’s time to return to the track where we judge how fast we can run in circles or how far we can throw heavy objects. ITFC is gearing up for an incredible season and shook out the preseason rust at this early bird meet at the Illinois Wesleyan Titan Open. While we didn’t have our full arsenal of athletes, it was a great chance to get back into the competitive mindset. While this was the first meet of the season, the Illini showed up to compete, setting multiple All-Time Bests for the club throughout all of the events! It was an exciting day to watch and we’ll see just how well the Illini performed with the individual results.

First event of the day was the Women’s 60 Meter Hurdles. Our only athlete, Desarae Echevarria, came in at speedy 10.35, a huge improvement over her 10.60 she ran at this meet last year. For the Men’s 60 Meter Hurdles we saw Decker Elias run a 9.54 in qualifying and came back in a huge 9.27 for finals.Not only was this an amazing PR, but also our 7th All-Time Bests for men’s 60m hurdles!
The next races were the 60 Meter Dashes. On the women’s side, Maria Becerra crossed the line at an 8.98. Cayman Beckham followed suit at a 9.37. This was both of their first ever collegiate races and much improved over their November testing times! Nice job ladies!

Representing the men, we saw a promising pack of young first-time racers. We had Shawn Rosofsky finish in a 7.37. Andre Ells ran a 7.50. Jad Karajeh close behind with a 7.55. Finishing the 5 second spread, Grant Brown finished at 7.60. Coming in at a strong tie we saw Anthony Lu and Ben Junkroski both finish with a 7.78. Matthew Steele ran a solid 7.91. PJ Coleman finished at an 8.80 and our very own social coordinator Shantanu Amin crossed the line at 9.78. Great races gentlemen!

The next set of races we saw our Illini compete in was the 300 Meter Dashes. Starting with the women, Tatiana Montanez ran a solid 47.60. Natasha Ferrero close behind at 47.84, our 9th All-Time Best for women’s 300-meter! Another record setting performance by Ciara Ward, she topped it off at 48.40, our 10th All-Time Best for women’s 300-meter!

Onto the men’s 300 Meter Dash, Justin Davis ran an impressive 37.29. Andre Ells finished at 39.52. PJ Coleman continues to make enormous gains and finished the Illini off at 46.44, excited to see where this man will go.

Moving onto the mile, we saw a preview of some of our distance runners fresh off cross-country nationals, the rest we’ll have to wait for. Starting with the women’s, we saw Lauren Gapinske finish at an impressive 5:30.50, winning the women’s mile! Margo van Loon was next at a 6:07.24, which apparently was faster than she ran in high school already! She has her sights on sub 6. Close behind was the daughter of legendary Marty Calkins, Audrey Calkins at 6:09.73.

For the men’s mile, we had one sole competitor, Mr. John Kellum. John had a terrific cross-country season and carried that over to run a 4:30.80. Looking forward to his upcoming track season!

For the men’s 3000 Meter Run, we saw a battle of the elderly. Leading the charge for the Illini at a solid 9:37.72 was Ryan Somerfield. If you’ve been on this club for a while, you know that Ryan has put in a ton of work not only for himself as an athlete, but also for the team. He’s had an incredible 6 years on this club and will be deeply missed. Wassim Elhouar ran his first ever 3K and crossed the line at 10:10.63, not bad for a first-timer!

We had quite the showing of Illini in the men’s 600 Meter Run. Starting us off was Patrick Willhalm at a solid performance, setting the 8th All-Time Best for men’s 600 meter at 1:26.12, probably from all that cross-country racing in the fall. Following up close behind was distance runner Nikita Smyrnov also setting an All-Time Best for the club, 10th to be exact, at 1:27.29. Third for the Illini was Drake Heisterkamp close behind Smyrnov at 1:28.77. Henry Hornbrook won his heat and finished at a solid 1:31.08. And topping it off was 20 year grad student, Beau Barber with a time of 1:34.76. Excellent job boys!

The women’s 600 Meter Run saw Katherine Vande Pol run a speedy 1:43.64, setting the 2nd All-Time Best for women’s 600 meter run! Margo van Loon crossed the line at a 2:05.92. Impressive job ladies!

Leading the way for the women’s 200 Meter Dash, we had Zoe Tsokolas run a blistering 28.12, a club All-Time Best for the women’s 200 meter dash! Desarae Echevarria followed up with a 28.46, setting the 9th All-Time Best time! A great reason to be proud of those performances! Maria Becerra was able to break 30 seconds and finished in a 29.96. Ciara Ward ran a solid 30.35 and Melissa Suarez finished off for the Illini at 34.83. Very strong showing by the women in the 200 meter! Excited to watch their season unfold!

On the men’s side, we had Adam Adil start us off strong at a 24.00. Very impressive. Shawn Rosofsky ran a 25.14 with Ben Junkroski close behind at 25.22. Anthony Lu finished at a 25.31 and Grant Brown was also close at a 25.58. Elias Decker ran a 25.86 and Matthew Steele finished close by with a 25.91. Lots of Illini in this race, and PJ Coleman finished it off at a sub 30, 29.66.

Last race event of the day was, of course, the 4×400 Meter Relay. Starting with the women’s, our first team comprised of Katherine Vande Pol, Desarae Echevarria, team player Audrey Calkins, and Lauren Gapinske ran a cumulative 4:24.50. Our second team contained Zoe Tsokolas, Natasha Ferrero, Maria Becerra, and Margo van Loon. Together, they ran a speedy 4:49.45.

For the men’s 4×4, our A team, Andre Ells, the soon-to-be-alumni Ben Junkroski, Justin Davis, and Elias Decker, ran a solid 3:45.03. Team B, Adam Adil, Nikita Smyrnov, Drake Heisterkamp, and Beau Barber, was not far behind at 3:47.70.

Onto the field events.

In Women’s High Jump, we saw Yuliya Ilnitzkaya jump an impressive 1.45 meters, which ties the 3rd All-Time Best for women’s high jump! Women’s Long Jump had Melissa Suarez jump 3.48 meters.

For our Men’s Long Jump competitors, starting us off was Ben Junkroski at 5.86 meters, a 9th All-Time-Best for the club and a PR! An incredible performance for his last meet with the club. Shantanu Amin unfortunately fouled out but will come back stronger at the next one.

Yuliya Ilnitzkaya lead us in the Women’s Triple Jump with an impressive 9.55-meter jump, a 6th All-Time Best performance! On the men’s side, Jad Karajeh jumped 12.72 meters.

Congrats to all our athletes that competed this past weekend. We saw a ton of All-Time Bests and it’s only December! Excited to see where all of our athletes end up as the season progresses! Whether you’re happy or upset with your performance, we have a long way to go until nationals in April, plenty of time for training and more chances to compete. Will ITFC be able to recoup after losing one of their most valuable athletes, Becky Haight? Will Evan Patel be able to complete this season injury free? Will Julia Hughes finally say yes and go to the 7th grade dance with Alex Bienduga? Tune in next time to find out!

Official Results:
https://www.iwusports.com/documents/2019/12/7/final_results_iwu_12072019.pdf

Last weekend at Pole Green Park was the end of the season, and for some of our Seniors, the end of competitive cross country racing in general. Overall, the top-7 women collectively ran their best race of the season, finishing 5th place with 168 pts, just 10 pts away from a trophy. The top-7 men did not have the best day at the office, but still walked away with a 9th place finish and 246 pts in a tough field.

The great thing about club running specifically is that there is so much more to this team than just trophies, medalling, and setting PR’s. Running is not the main goal in life for anybody on this team, yet the men and women of IXC choose to devote their time, energy, and focus to this sport. I have nothing but respect for the effort I see my teammates put in at practice, and the sacrifices they make to log those miles, and I will do my best to reflect that in this last recap of the season.

Before we get into talking about races though, let’s take a minute to give thanks for the parents that helped make this nationals trip possible. Thank you Mr. Calkins, Mr. Mcgrath, the Mollways, the Kellums, and the Ludwigs for spending 4 days driving vans full of amped-up college kids across the country. We take those.

Strap yourself in because this is going to be a long one, but in the words of the wise sage Lil’ Pump, “Esketit”.

1. A battle of two tanks, the open race smackdown

The first race of the day is always a good pacesetter for how the rest of the meet will go. Justice Carter has been adjusting to running at the college level, but put himself out there in the open 6k, finishing with a time of 21:37.2. Our other absolute unit, Freshman Tristan Taylor , ran 23:40.5, which with a haircut equates to about an 18 minute 6k right there. Both of these guys come back next year, and their records were good enough to warrant promotion out of the open race next year. We love to see that.

2. The Women’s Junior/Senior/Grad Race: Grandmas can run fast too!

In the face of injury after injury, a lot of people would quit. Not Grace McDonough though. In pain, dealing with possible stress fractures, and not being able to run much in the lead up didn’t stop her from finishing 37th overall in a time of 26:15.9, just 40 seconds off her all-time PR! We’re all looking forward to her recovering, and then seeing what she can do while healthy, but she is the definition of not giving up. Senior Brianna Legner was next for the women with a time of 27:34. It wasn’t the way she wanted to go out, but one race does not define a season, and one race does not define a running career. She has trained hard and come so far in the past 3 seasons, and there’s a whole track season left to make a statement. Senior Leah Ziolkowski has felt irrelevant on this club at times due to unfortunate injuries keeping her out of running. But she has been anything other than irrelevant, working her way back from having trouble walking, to shattering everyone’s expectations (including her own), with a 90-second season PR and a time of 27:37.8. She has been a consistent presence at every nationals race from her freshman year to now in spite of everything she has had to deal with. We wish her the best in her future endeavors, and hope that running is still on the table in the future. Abby Ludwig was the last competitor in the Big Gorls race, and had a HUGE day at the office, knocking out a 2.5 minute season PR and running 29:56.6. She probably picked up a thing or two from being abroad, and running fast was one of them for sure!

3. The Men’s Junior/Senior/Grad Race: Illinois Dogs play fetch and retrieve paper

The next race of the day saw a bunch of old boomers run against a bunch of other boomers with one goal in their pacemaker-fueled hearts: Get. Paper. Former Wheaton Tokyo Drift Star Matthew Beckerman was the first to achieve this goal, coming back from early/mid season injury and illness to run a PR on a long course in 27:16.3, good for 12th overall! His teammate and running partner, Mouse executioner and head track coach Cody Lund , almost threw up at the end their, but secured paper with a 13th place finish in 27:18.4. Cody does a lot outside of running: biology research, being a beast academically, and scrubbing running clubhouse floors for PENNIES a day, but he still finds time to give to the club. Thanks for a great 4 seasons, bud. You really do it all.

Weird to write about myself, but Jarod Meyer finished in a time of 28:02.9. It wasn’t what I wanted, but I came to nationals for my friends, and you all delivered. Our local rocketman, Senior Daniel Engel , put it all out there and was rewarded with a 28:47.9 time! How this kid can even walk with less than 4 hours of sleep every day is a miracle, but he doesn’t just walk: he runs. And he runs pretty damn fast. If I could sum up how I feel about Daniel’s performance, I only need to think of the title of Dan’s favorite Pitbull song, “I Like It”.

It seems fitting that Evan Patel would finish in 69th place. It’s not surprising that he ran a fantastic race in 28:55.1 despite having literal calf tears, internal bleeding, and other injury issues. If there’s one thing you can learn from Evan, it’s heart. It doesn’t matter if his body is a bloody, torn-up pile of ground beef, because his mental game is a prime cut of rib. An uninjured Evan season is medium-rare, but these meat puns are meant to highlight his tenacity and dedication. Senior Matt Dickinson quietly joined the club in his Sophomore year. It’s fun to look back and see how much of a club mainstay he has become in the past two years, and he certainly stomped the competition with a 29:13.9. Sad to see him leave, but rumor has it he might not be if he stays for his master’s! Either way, keep running, Matt! Our German exchange student Lukas Koller finished next for the Illini men in 29:17.4. Already a respectable time, but this guy ran the marathon literally right before Nats. He probably summed it up best when after his race he said, “ I was feeling good then at 2 miles the marathon said hello”. Thanks for joining the club this semester, and all the best when you return to Germany! Our Mid-D coach Patrick Wilhalm was next, and after getting gassed up all night at the Nats rap battles, how could he not have a fun time? The finishing time of 29:46.4 may not have been what he wanted, but he represented Mid-D well with a massive finishing kick, and should be a presence in the 800m this track season.

Wassim Elhouar endures a lot of boomer jokes for being old, but it’s kind of fair because he is 30. Sorry, truth HURTS doesn’t it, Wassim. He used that pain to put together a great performance though. His goal was to break 30 in his last chance of the season, and despite being sick and barely having a voice, he pulled it out on a long course with a 29:48! Pardon my language, but holy shit! A lot of times I wonder if I’ll still love running as much as I do now when I’m older. Watching Wassim, a guy nine years my senior cross the line with that much enthusiasm reminds me that people may age, but a love for running doesn’t have to go away. Thanks for the reminder, and here’s to more PRs in the future, man.

Olan Bruyere will always get his own paragraph. Especially after showing off the hottest memes on the nats trip. He also ran an aggressive race, and was rewarded with a 6-second lifetime PR in 31:09.6. Oh Olan, my Olan. I’d follow a man like that to hell and back.

Wrapping it up for the men was Senior mainstay, and 4 year Nats tripper Alex Hanskat . He ran his race in 31:17.5, but he wasn’t running to compete this season, anyway. I’m glad he stuck around, because the club culture wouldn’t be the same without him. This is supposed to be a neutral-ish Nats recap, but whatever. I’ll miss you man, and IXC wouldn’t have been the same without you from my first day at practice Freshman year to now our last race together. You’re one of my best friends, and I hope I can still catch you for a run in the future, even after this club running thing is over.

4. Women’s Championship Race: 5th on the course, 1st in our hearts

There were a lot of questions on how well the Women’s top-7 would do this year at Nationals, but they showed up on the big stage, and almost came away with at trophy in the process. Leading the charge was Sophomore Natalie Sarris , who finished 14th overall for First-Team All-American Honors in 22:29.4. She put herself out there, all the way back to the first race of the season, and capped off a phenomenal first season. We’re excited to see how she does in Track! Sophomore Grace Gudwien ran a masterful race, moving up the entire time, and finished 17th overall with Second-Team All American honors in 22:43.0. She’s developed into a leader on this team, and all you need to do is see that Orange Illinois wig to know she is one of the loudest cheerers out their too.

President Julia Schultz did not have the best nationals race, finishing 33rd with a time of 23:08, but the fact that she can still run fast with all she has done for this club is truly inspiring. When you’re the big #1 on the club, you shoulder the weight of all the criticism, all the duties of the executive board, and still have to find a way to train. She’s worked hard all season long, and though IXC may be over, her time with running is far from done. Thanks for all you did this season, Julia, guess we won’t be sending you to jail after all.

Senior Mia Bertaud has been a consistent performer on the club since she joined during Sophomore track, and has slowly gotten better and better as the races have gone by. She ran awesome to finish 64th overall with a time of 24:00.7. Good to have you on the team, Mia, and looking forward to track! Freshman Brisa Mcgrath got hopped up on TWO caffeine pills pre-race, and moved up well to finish 67th overall in 24:06, right behind Mia. She follows in the footsteps of other Mahomet superstars like Soap-peddler Willy Wolf, and the Butcher. She’s got 3 more years of XC, and All-American Paper (maybe even a MEDAL?) is looking like a possibility. Mikeelie Jensen may have taken the world record for most injuries unrelated to running, but she worked hard all year, and ran her tail off to make the top-7 lineup as a freshman. She finished in a time of 25:22, not far from her PR, and will be ready for track!

There’s a lot of people who dedicate themselves to the club, but probably very few who can say they’ve given as much to this club as Senior Riley Maloney . From making the ultimate sacrifice freshman year by being the sole girl to eat dinner with multiple HEINOUS freshman cross country boys, to bringing so much to the social events and behind-the-scenes work on the club, Riley really has done a lot. She ran 26:25 by the way, despite a lot of injuries and other things, but she leaves a more lasting impact on the club in terms of what she’s done to help establish a welcoming team culture. Cheers, Riley.

5. Men’s Championship Race: Dogs place 9th in stiff competition, ready to chow down next year

The men didn’t have the day they wanted to have when they placed ninth, but their performances were nothing to be ashamed about. Sometimes it’s not our day. All you can do is show up anyway, and go down fighting. Head coach Josh Mollway had a busy day at the course. Between handing out race bibs, giving pre-race speeches, cheering on teammates, and running around the course like a headless chicken to take videos and pictures, he somehow found some time to race too. It might not have been what he wanted, but 25:49.6 for 19th place and Second-Team All American honors is pretty damn good. He’s a real role model on the team, and a great coach too. He’ll be back faster next year. East-European Hacker Nikita Smyrov almost hacked his way up into the All-American honors, finishing 36th overall in a time of 26:14.1. He pushed himself to the breaking point, and it’s been great to see him back in shape again.

The race I was most excited for at Nats was probably John Kellum’s . The past two years I have mercilessly clapped his cheeks at Nats (by 1 second), but I was really hoping he’d get the better of me this year. He did more than that, and ran a PR to take 52nd overall and a time of 26:27.1. The best part of his race was seeing that massive smile taped to his head through the entire course. To know your running the race of your life is a great feeling, and if it really is Kellum’s last XC race, then what a way to close it out. Mahomet legend Brian Butcher has been recovering from his fantastic marathon race earlier in the year, but being the legend he is he ran 26:36.5 on a long course. Great work man, you’ve earned yourself a whiskey. Sophomore Justin Ostrem did not have the best race of his season, running 26:51.2, but he worked hard all year to get into shape, and will take all of those gains into the track season and the XC seasons to come.

I’ve watched Connor Farrell psyche himself out before races from stress, but I’ve been really happy this season to see him relax and have fun with it. Even with all the pressure of coordinating a 4 day trip for a club, which he somehow pulled off beautifully, he looked smooth out there in running 26:58.3. Great job and good luck next year. Make Papa Rod proud.

I used to be intimidated by old redbeard my Freshman year on IXC, but after eating potato salad and tossing the pigskin around at a tailgate last year, I realized out loud that “Wow, I thought he was a dick, but he’s actually a great guy!” Ryan Somerfield did not have a great day at Nats when he ran 27:48.9, but he’s been so much more than a top-7 runner. From my coach freshman year, to being a grad-student mainstay these past two seasons, to just being a great friend for everyone, Ryan has been one of the people that have really defined what the running club should be. I hope everyone has gotten to interact with him a bit before he finally leaves for good this semester.

6. Women’s Frosh/Soph Race: Questionable Sideline Chanting propels Fr/Soph women to fast times

The women of the Frosh/Soph race had to deal with some questionable motivation tactics by the Illinois Dogs XC team. But hopefully repeated barking and screaming helped them on the course out there. This club has a great group of young women out there, and we’re all excited to see what they’ll do in the coming years.

Freshman Annika Koester rallied the troops, finishing first for the Frosh/Soph women in 25:04.9, good for 23rd overall. Maybe it’s cheating that she gets all that extra running in at ROTC, but it’s more impressive that she can train on top of that. Freshman Lauren Brunk has been consistent in her first semester at Illinois and broke 26, PRing with a 25:58.3! On to track season, Lauren! Freshman Maddy Feehan ran a great race to end up with a 26:18.7, passing about 15 people in the final straight with a devastating kick. She’s ready for some shorter distance races in track. Audrey Calkins may have puzzled her dad when she led a rendition of “Truth Hurts” in the van-ride to nats, though she definitely made Marty proud with a 26:35.4. Her Nats rap also gassed people up with nothing but compliments.

Freshman Lauren Bartels not only broke 29 for the first time, but almost dipped under 28 with a massive PR of 28:10.0. She’s been running even better than in high school, and having a lot of fun doing it. Congrats! Maggie Kosterman dealt with mid-season injuries, but was still able to commit to a 4 day trip, and ran 28:37.2! Nice job, and we all hope she can have many healthy seasons in the future. Gabby Aguilar-Ripley ran 29:10.5. She wasn’t happy with the finish, but she has had consistent practice attendance, and will be back with some great performances in track and next year.

Natalie Maguire didn’t necessarily have the race she wanted when she crossed the line in 30:22.7, but it’s impressive to see how much she puts into running even with everything else she has to do in life (like being in a business FRAT, SLATT!). She came back from food poisoning just a week earlier, and has so much else going on that its a testament to her dedication that she can still come out and race her heart out. Mary-Rose Farruggio ran a great race at her first Nats, finishing in 34:15.1, and it’s great to see her improve so much in her first season. Looking forward to having you come out for track and next year!

7. Men’s Frosh/Soph Race: Young talent shows off intangible metrics at NIRCA Combine, scouts impressed

The last race of the day showcased the young pups of the Illinois dogs, and the scouts were really impressed by their performances. Spencer Nelson kicked it off with a 27:47.4 for 38th place. He’s got some pretty good football highlights from middle school, such as an absolute touchdown snag, so great to have a multisport athlete leading the frosh/soph. Jeffrey Hesselbein was a man on a mission Saturday afternoon. His mission? Beat. Alex. Kogen. 3 miles in and the gap was enormous, but Jeff was not a man to fail his mission, and drove himself to the point of puking to cross the line in 28:12.2, mission accomplished. We joke around on this club a lot when it comes to Alex Kogen , but he has done a great job as treasurer of the XC club. It’s a tough job when you have to get all these scrubs to pay up so this club can function, but he found his stride as the season wore on. He has also run gutsy this season, and put himself out there to run a 28:18.1. I’ve had the privilege of watching this guy develop from high school to now, and I’m looking forward to seeing how much further he goes in the next few years.

Lucas Carillo woke up after a fantastic night of sleep, woofed down a whole bowl of his favorite special K for breakfast, and ran his best race on the club so far in 28:26.1, a PR! He proceeded to lock himself in the porta-potty and listen to “Gunnar” for the next hr, but he earned it.

Tim Green also ran great, finishing with a time of 28:48.0. His true calling, is the NIRCA Steeplechase though, where he’ll be back and healthy during track. Liam Bots ran a solid 28:48, but being the competitor he is, is already looking forward to track where he can improve his finishing speed. It’ll be exciting to see how fast he runs on a good day. Cade Baker has been around on the club since he visited practice as a high-school senior last track season. It was great to see him actually join the club, come to practice consistently, and wrap up his first season with a sub-29 in 28:59.4. Was it the fastest time he ran this season? No. But he’s got 3 years to keep getting better and better, and we all know he will.

Nathan Saltzman was next for the Illini, running 29:02.4. He’s got 2 more years to keep improving, and he’s consistent enough to make it happen. Freshman Garrett Minich looked great in his first Nats race, running 29:15.0, and it’ll be fun to compete with him in track as well. Arthur Mazzeo has been one of the quieter members of the running club this season, but he’s quietly had himself a great first season, capping it off with a 29:23.1 at Nats. On a long course, that may very well be a PR over his 28:59 on the Aurora short course earlier. Great job! Freshman Norb Nieves came painfully close to breaking 30 minutes in his last race of the season, running 30:03 flat. While a bummer, Norb has improved a ton in his first season with the club, and has 3 more years to take down 30, 29, 28, and who knows how fast? He made up for not breaking 30 by breaking my ankles in basketball later that weekend though.

Who was that I just saw? It was Nate Sun , streaking across the course in his torn up racing shorts and finishing in 30:08.1. Nate has worked hard this season, putting in the work even when he couldn’t make practice, and we hope he does track this year! Marcus Herrington PR’d in his last race of the season to run 31:06.4. After track and into next year, look for that time to continue dropping in the future, but a great way to end Nats! Thomas Tran should really consider changing his last name to Train , as he certainly finished like one in his last race of the season. He passed tons of people in the second half of the race, and PR’d by 90 seconds to run 31:20.2! The work was done throughout the whole season though as he trained hard and showed up when he could. I’m glad he was rewarded with an end to the season that he earned. I learned at Nats that Nathan Zachar is allergic to a lot of things, but being a champion is clearly not one of them. He ran hard and he ran smart to finish in a PR of 31:25.4. Nicely done man, and get ready for track!

I could probably write a 10 page essay on all the good qualities of Mr. John Feeley , but this is a very long recap already so I’ll spare you guys. Even still, I feel like every race John runs is a new PR, and he did it again running 31:32.8. He has been a model of consistency since his first days on the club back last year, and I’ve watched him drop down from the 34 minute 8k range to now knocking on the door of the 30-31 minute range. Nicely done, and keep going!

8. The not forgotten Peanut Gallery

Whether or not you had the best race of your life or one to forget, at the end of the day we should still be grateful for the opportunity to run. The cross country season is, unfortunately, too short for us all, and some people have injuries that force them to watch from the sidelines. Home meet coordinator Bryan Himmel may have had a stress fracture that kept him out from racing, but if anyone’s presence was still felt on the course, it was his. From organizing Regionals, heading out on multi-day trips to Lewis and Nats just to see his friends compete, Bryan is a perfect representation of all a good teammate should be. He’s working hard to come back healthier and stronger than before, and I know I’ll be checking live results to see how he does at Nats next year.

9. Final thoughts and signing off

There’s a great quote from Alexander Dumas: “Life is a storm, my young friend. You will bask in the sunlight one moment, be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes.”

In a lot of ways, this applies especially to cross country. For some of you, Nats was your moment in the sunlight: Big PR’s, NIRCA Paper, a great end to the season. For others, maybe it was something you weren’t happy with. Either way, there comes a time when all we can do is just keep pushing on: logging the miles, trusting in the process, and showing up whenever we can. What really makes you a cross country runner isn’t how you finish a race, but how you deal with everything in your life to get to the start line, and what you do next when that finish line doesn’t come as fast as you want it to.

It’s been great getting to know all of you in my last season on the club, and although I’m sad to leave, I can see that the club has a bright future with all of you. Keep running, keep trying, and us Seniors will keep cheering you on from the sidelines.

This is it, the moment IXC has been training for all season long. Saturday, Nov 16th, the men and women of IXC step onto the course at Pole Green Park in Virginia and give it everything they’ve got. From the Frosh/Soph to Junior/Senior/Grad, and to the top 7 level, our athletes are ready to compete with the best of NIRCA. But while the competition is the main reason for our 4 day trip out East, multiple storylines outside of the race will add to the intrigue.

1. Will Justin Ostrem defend his rap title?

Last year hearts were broken at the time-honored nats rap tradition, as Justin Ostrem delivered a 30 page manifesto of cold-hearted rhymes to take the nats rap crown from previous champion Jarod Meyer . Justin looks to defend his title, but he will have to contend with some of the best, ice-cold thugs in the game. Look for XXL Freshman Rapper of the Year Arthur Mazzeo to fire off some heavy hitter lines. And who could forget about upstart Brisa Mcgrath , who had the audacity to slip a copy of her newest mixtape into the NIRCA Regionals coordinator’s hand at the award ceremony??? Look for Connor Farrell to disappoint with some weak bars as well.

2. How fast will Daniel Engel eat his Jimmy John’s Sandwich?

Fresh off his victory in the Domino”s Pizza Challenge, (where he ate a medium cheese pizza in 3:28), Daniel Engel has his eyes set on eating a Jimmy John”s sandwich as fast as humanly possible. Will he finish in 60 seconds? 30 seconds? One bite? Who knows. Will it be pretty disgusting to watch? You bet.

3. Which van will win the drag racing competition?

In all this turmoil, let’s not forget to thank the sets of parents who have volunteered both their time and support to drive us from Illinois to Virginia for the meet. But while their are 5 sets of vans being driven by parents to Nirca Nats, only 1 van can win the inter-van IXC drag racing competition. The competition is steep, and it’ll take some serious tokyo-drifting to beat the likes of the Mollways and the Kellums on the open road.

4. A Day at the Races: Gambling

What sporting event would be complete without some forms of underground betting? While officially no betting is taking place, rumor has it that Grace Gudwien stands to win upwards of $400 if Matthew Beckerman takes a dive at Mile 3. The question is, will Beckerman’s sense of moral integrity get in the way of a payout that could secure his early retirement? So much INTRIGUE.

5. Oh yeah, people are racing too.

Good luck to all IXC runners this weekend, and thank you to everyone who helped make this trip possible. Stay tuned for updates as the meet unfolds, and a nice 10 page lab report with chicago mla citation style to recap it all!

The weather gods decided to turn illinois into an ice rink the weekend of November 2nd, but that didn’t stop IXC from putting on a show at the Arboretum. Team titles? Individual titles? Political intrigue? Dogs? 8K courses up to 200m too long? This meet had it all.

In a complete 180 of the meet schedules IXC has been accustomed to, the men ran the 8k first. Leading the way was head coach Josh Mollway , who won the race with a time of 26:15.5! However, don”t let this man distract you from the fact that in 1998, The Undertaker threw Mankind off Hell In A Cell, and plummeted 16 ft through the announcer”s table . Taking 2nd place overall was Justin Ostrem with a time of 26:51.3. He was followed by John Kellum (who is really having a go of it this season) in third with a time of 27:12.3. Next up was grandpa Ryan Somerfield , who got cucked out of fourth place by some northwestern kid by 0.3 seconds, but still ran solid to get fifth in 27:14.2. He has his eyes on the prize, however, and is ready to turn on the jets at nats. Nikita Smyrnov also got cucked by Ryan by 0.3 seconds, finishing in sixth place with a time of 27:14.5. Connor Farrell ran aggressively, and was rewarded with an eighth place finish in a time of 27:18.7. Brian Butcher , still recovering from his marathon, rounded out the top 7 with a time of 27:27.0.

Local frat god, “grease monkey”, and headband wearer Matthew Beckerman was next for the IXC men in a time of 27:54.3. He was followed by freshman Spencer Nelson, who ran 28:14.4, and team loanshark Alex Kogen , who ran 28:22.4 in possibly his best race of the season so far! Jeffrey Hesselbein was next in 28:44.3. Team bulldozer Liam Bots just barely missed breaking 29 minutes with an official 29:00.2, but the course was long by almost 200m so he essentially got it. Bool brothers Tim Green and Lucas Carillo finished consecutively with times of 29:03.6 and 29:11.0. I don’t know if it was planned or not, but that is heart-meltingly adorable. Robbie Sieczkowski was next through the line in 29:22.2. Cade Baker , Lukas Koller , and Jordan Meyer all came through close together in times of 29:27.6, 29:29.3, and 29:32.9, respectively. Jordan’s time brought ten thousand years of shame and dishonor to his family line, sadly, despite being a solid race.

Freshman Arthur Mazzeo has been steadily improving throughout the season, and ran a great time of 29:47.6 on a long course. Local Busey men and aerospace maniacs Matthew Dickinson and Daniel Engel came through together in times of 29:49.3 and 29:51.3. Middle distance coach Patrick Wilhalm finally ran something longer than 1 mile in a day, finishing in a solid time of 29:55.5. Nathan Saltzman and the oldest undergraduate student in living memory ( Jacob Fleck ), came through next in 29:56.8 and 30:02.7.

Wassim Elhouar really likes it when I call him out as an old man in these writeups. Old dustbag boomer Wassim Elhouar ditched his walker and test-drived his new hip-replacement at the Nirca Regionals early bird special. He finished in a time of 30:22.4, but back in his day you could buy a whole soda pop with a 30-31 minute 8k. Nate Sun finished his first 8k of the season in a time of 30:35.1, which also makes him eligible to buy a soda pop in the old days (1920? Not sure how old Wassim is…). Freshmen Norb Nieves and Garrett Minich came through together in times of 30:52.3 and 30:53.1, respectively. Big PRs are on the horizon at nats!

Detroit Lions fan and Urbana enigma Alex Hanskat finished in 31:18.2 to punch his ticket to Nats round 4, followed by Sam Barranco and Nathan Zachar in times of 31:25.2 and 31:32.6. The hulking mass of raw muscle known as Olan Bruyere barrelled through the finish line in 31:35.7, taking out several bystanders in the process. Marcus Harrington took advantage of the massive lane Olan opened up, crossing the line in 31:40.8, good for a first down. John Feeley opened up a can of whoopass to finish in 31:55.8.

Evan Patel , sporting a new haircut and a sick tan, crossed next in 32:10.9, followed by freshman Justin Baysore in 32:26.1. Thomas Tran ran great to finish with a time of 32:49.6, and is ready for a huge PR at nationals. Webmaster Jarod Meyer , sporting a new haircut and a sick tan, finished in 33:23.3, and brough ten thousand years of honor and prestige to his family line. Freshman Raymond Romero crossed next in 33:33.9. Isaac Schifferer finished in 34:58.5, and Senior Sean Frintner ran one last regionals, finishing in a time of 35:12.9. Bryan Himmel closed it out in 37:29.3. Nicely done, lads!

Now onto the women. As has been the theme this year, Sophomore Natalie Sarris dominated the competition to win in 22:49.4. She should be at the front during nationals. Grace Gudwien and President Julia Schultz took 2nd and 3rd overall in great races of 23:23.5 and 23:32.2, respectively. Freshman Brisa Mcgrath completely skipped the 25 minute range to run a 24:08.8 and placed 5th overall. Sub-24 is knocking on the door now too. Mia Bertaud ran a PR despite muddy conditions and some lingering sickness to take 7th overall in 24:11.0! Grad aerospace maniac Noel Brindise was 6th for the team in 25:14.9, followed by Freshman Annika Koester in 25:41.2, to round out the top seven.

Freshman Mikeelie Jensen was next up with a solid performance of 25:52.6, and even better, didn’t hurt her ankle at the race! Riley Maloney gave her all and came through in 26:19.9, and is ready for a great last nats. Freshman Lauren Brunk charged through in a time of 26:29.9, followed by Clare Oehler and Emily Condic in times of 26:43.6 and 26:51.3, respectively. Ally Tippett ran well to finish in 26:53.7.

Brianna Legner ran smoothly to finish in 27:19.0, followed by big dog Grace McDonough in 27:23.0. Big shoutout to Grace, who came close to her all-time PR despite dealing with a year’s worth of injuries, and on a long course in less than ideal conditions too! Maddy Feehan was next in 27:37.3, and Lucy Jensen beat her time from Lewis with a 27:55.8. Senior booler Margo Van Loon and Freshman Audrey Calkins were next in 28:25.2 and 28:33.2, respectively. Gabby Aguilar-Ripley finished in 28:47.9. Leah Ziolkowski was all smiles as she finished her first xc race in almost a year, running 28:58.9! It’s been a long time due to injuries, but welcome back, Leah! Katie Sledz and Lauren Bartels ran well, finishing in 29:27.3 and 29:27.8, respectively. Natalie Maguire moved up well and gave a great effort to finish in 30:23.7. Freshman Maggie Kosterman and Senior Abby Ludwig were next, in 30:49.1 and 31:11.6, respectively.

Mary-Beth Feeley ran a 1 minute PR to finish in 31:43.1, and Mary Rose Farruggio also PR’d by over a minute to run 35:03.2! Great job, ladies!

And that recaps a fantastic home regionals meet for the club. We now have one chance to take home the gold (or some paper certificates/instagram photos/PRs/Jimmy John’s sandwiches next week at nationals. Stay tuned for the nationals preview!

Awkward sweaty handshake,
The IXC exec board